Salamonie swollen downstream

It’s got to go somewhere.
Floodwaters receded Wednesday from most of Portland, but downstream the Salamonie River continued to flow over its banks into farmers’ fields.
At one spot east of Pennville, the river was roughly 400 yards wide, with its channel indistinguishable from the fields on either side.
By Wednesday afternoon, land south of Seventh Street in Portland that had been inundated by Monday’s rain was largely free of floodwater. Only battered crops and mud remained.
Though there was standing water on the south side of the Salamonie where it crosses Blaine Pike, the river level in the channel was down sharply from earlier in the week.
Similar conditions were visible where the Salamonie crosses Indiana 67 south of Jay County High School. A field that had been flooded a day before was largely drained by Wednesday afternoon.
But farther downstream, it was clear the river was still trying to find a way to deal with what was reported as 5 inches of rain in some areas.
Lake-like fields were evident on both the north and south sides of Indiana 26 on the west side of the Salamonie near the crossroads of Center.
On county road 500 West, where a bridge crosses the Salamonie, the river was swollen and dangerous and entire fields were under water.
Nearby on county road 200 North near county road 550 West — not far from Walnut Corner Church — water from ditches flowing into the Salamonie covered the road and the river was completely out of its banks.
The largest expanse of flooding Wednesday was visible on county road 750 West, where the river was running wildly and water stretched 400 yards into adjacent fields. Water levels in the main river channel were running high up into the branches of trees growing along the banks.
Along River Road, heading west out of Pennville, the river ran quickly toward the Godfroy Reserve area along the Jay-Blackford county line. At that point, the road was closed to traffic because of high water.
From there, the Salamonie — and the floodwaters — headed toward Matamoras, a village near Montpelier that routinely experiences high water, then onto Warren and the Salamonie Reservoir, which has already seen record levels this summer.